Note to parents, don’t leave your child alone with an iPad, especially if one of the parental units decides to trust said child when they tell them that the apps they would like to download are “free.”

This is the story of Danny Kitchen, a five year old boy in England who desperately wanted to have a go at Zombies vs. Ninjas (and who can blame him?). Danny couldn’t get access to the game without first convincing his father that it would be for free. Once the father had been swayed, Danny went ahead and downloaded the game. All was well until he was presented with the opportunity to purchase in game ammunition. With the passcode recently stored Danny began to click away on the not-so-free bombs and keys the game has to offer for an added price, and in the span of ten minutes he had charged 1,710.43 pounds (roughly $2,570 US) on his parents account. Give that kid a trophy because that has got to be a new high score.

Have a look at Danny and his mom explain the situation below.

Remember kids, if it says its free that just means that the next day it will “costed the money.”

Luckily, thanks to a suit filed against Apple which settled just a few days ago, incidents like this have a built in “get out of the spanking of your life free” card in the US. If a child makes a purchase in excess of $30 the charges will be reverted. Sadly this perk has yet to make it overseas so lets keep our collective fingers crossed for Danny’s backside.

Just how much has this suit cost Apple so far? Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 million dollars. Ouch! That’s going to leave a mark.

Note: For those that didn’t get the “absolutely free” reference in the image above, please watch the Dane Cook video below. Thanks for playing.

Parents fault – if they don’t understand the tech, and the way micro-transactions work, then its their own stupidity, not the childs!

Nicholas Gatewood

I think they’re both at fault, but the kid’s much worse. He’s the one who made the in-app purchases, even after convincing his parents that there wasn’t anything to worry about.

Klock

So, you mean it’s the kid’s fault? Yes, sure it is completely normal for a kid that age, that can’t even speak properly yet, to be able to convince both his parents that something is free (even though his parents should be old enough to know that practicaly everything costs money in today”s society). Something that they could easily check in less than 5 minutes.

The kid should only be blamed of being smarter than his parents, that is, if he actually knew what he was doing, otherwise, he has no blame… and by the law he is pretty far from the age where he can even make this kind of decisions, so when the parents gave the OK, and the means for him to make that decision (the tablet), it was already completely their fault.

But I agree, he should suffer for his mistake notheless, since that is the way of life, and he should start getting used to it… but seeing the way he is already playing with that tablet, I think the parents blame did not end with the OK.

Aaron

You’re a idiot and a dum ass Verizon and apple nothing is cheap but android is got plenty of free stuff get rid of apple and Verizon

Larry Owens

IF the kid can’t speak properly by 5, just shoot him now and make a new one… but the fact the parents just toss tech in his hands and walk away is sad. My mother didn’t know how to play NES but when I got a new game, she’d make sure I could make it past the first level before leaving me alone!

omega riddler

your saying at the age of 5 this kid has become a master liar?, I bet he saw free and thought that was it

pick up bart

This happens all the time, I’m more surprised they used a Dane Cook clip

So let me guess? the kid lied to his parents and then went away whit it? no punishment… mmm… yeah… those parents are stupid…

Boxanadu

Actually it was a free game. He actually told the truth. What he didn’t realise was that additional ammo and such had to be paid for.

ghozt

My guess is it was a freemium game,where you can play it for free but they heavily encourage you to buy stuff for it.

Mike_from_Saskatoon

This was a 5 year old kid. Few five year olds have any concept of money. The game was free, but the damnable “paid upgrades / items” are really easy to mistake, especially for a young child.

Heist

First world problems: knowing the concept of passcodes and downloading games but no concept of money

Mike_from_Saskatoon

IT WAS A FIVE YEAR OLD!

Seriously Heist — how can you make this into a “first world problem”?

Larry Owens

When I was 5 I knew how to balance a check book and how to run a damn register at the family store…any idea how many tips a cute kid gets when giving a total? Stupid is as stupid does…poor kid got some stupid parents…

Mike_from_Saskatoon

I’ve worked with a lot of five year olds, and I’ve never met one who could do what you claim.

Showing an outlier example and pretending it is indicative of the norm is foolish. You want to start calling people stupid, perhaps you should stop saying stupid things first.

Autress

Pretty simple really: kid sees game, kid hits play (or download) kid then sees ammo, hits buy, then keeps playing. The child more than likely has a concept of money, but like most children, is terrible at gauging the long-term effects of his actions. Although… 10 minutes is hardly longterm…

Guest

I’d waste him, especially when he looks like a prick.

http://twitter.com/Elvick Elvick

Apple should never reverse these charges anywhere. Sends a hard message about, oh, I don’t know monitoring what the hell you’re stupid children are doing with an overpriced device they shouldn’t be using, that also has credit card information stored on it.

And people like this are why companies are making this *horrible* games on mobile in the first place. Because they can make it “free” and then make it suck so bad if you don’t spend money, that little kids will just click whatever is needed to keep playing.

And parents these days are such ignorant morons and don’t know how anything works. The parents should have, I don’t know, looked into the game themselves instead of just listening to a 5 year old. 5 year olds hardly know what’s going on most of the time.

If it was a porn game, you can bet they’d throw blame elsewhere too. Even if it was obvious to anyone with a functioning brain.

l984yearsofwar

I agree completely. I dont have kids, but i have elderly grandparents i care for and i watch them like a hawk, like a hawk i say

Klock

Well, regarding your second paragraph, there are some games that are “free” and still people spend a lot of money on them, not because they want to keep playing, but because they want to (keep) winning

With that said, I wholeheartedly agree with the rest of your comment, specially your last paragraph, because so many people seem to not realize that people are just trying to pass the blame onto someone else, instead of admiting they are wrong… parents all around the world have been using this nonstop, ever since modern life (that they chose) became so time cosuming that they just can’t be around their kids anymore, but still they want to have kids, even though they don’t have, or are not willing to create the time, to educate, and (try to) pass their life’s knowledge into them. With no role model and principles to follow, most kids will grow up to be in a complete state of anarchy… which will end up being the adolescents with no values that we see today (thankfully, for the majority, life will sooner or later teach them… unfortunately, even for most of those, will be too late to become anything more than ordinary).

why did they not read the MONEY TAG when they put the card number in :D

Skid

Kid spends over 2,000$ and they just keep letting him play. Wow you people are smart.

http://twitter.com/MissCrownguard Midori Fujioka

Stupid kid, stupid parents, stupid iPad, stupid world… I hate that I can’t get out of elohell…

Voice of Reason

Taking the word of a 5-year old, those parents deserved to get fleeced. Typical 5-years olds do not have the reading comprehension for ULA, ,and yet the parents did not check it out.

http://twitter.com/MewMew34 Mew Mew

I can’t believe people sued over this kind of thing. If you let your kid play with electronics unsupervised and they charge a bunch of money to your account, you should be forced to pay the price in full as punishment for being stupid. A 5 year old has no business putting his hands anywhere near such expensive electronics, and it really makes me sad that people have already decided to just let their kids do whatever rather than teach them rules, boundaries, and that certain things just aren’t for them until they reach a certain age or maturity level.

pp.LVgus

Although i agree with your outrage at the parents, i disagree with the fact that they are the only ones to blame. Apple to me is no different then a pusher on the streets, or someone who get’s kids hooked on drugs. Sure if we were raised better…bla bla bla… but he is 5… point i’m making is, that just like a pusher, apple makes the idea of getting more ammunition or whatever so appealing, and the kids don’t know any better then to waste their parents’ money (they probably don’t even understand the concept of it really).

Also, these games are highway robbery, since creating these games is relatively easy, but they don’t limit on how much they can charge you for extras… I’m looking at it from a gain vs expense POV. They create these extra items,which is really just code,and then charge you for it, over and over and over again. their has to be a limit.

Just compare it to the “real” video games… such high budget, high production… high versatile gameplay, so amny stock options… and the lack of options do not limit your progress… and on top of all that they charge you a set price.

The world is evolving. I had a books and mini chalkboards for fun… stick in the sand playing tic tac toe… my younger sister, already had a computer in the house to go on to… and my much younger brother has a kid’s learning tablet…. raised well… never did drugs or gambled….or smoked even. Mistakes happen, and these scavengers are circling and waiting to grab something from your folly.

Ivan

This was going to happen soon not a big surprise

mike

the thing is that apple should make you insert a password every time you spend money on or in the apps. Like what android does with my phone, every time i want something that costs money i have to put in a password that i set.

They should just put that kid down, with that speech impediment and all.

egham

He’s fucking five. Do you really expect all five year old kids to have perfect, clear speech?

Tomas

I hate how everyone is blaming it on the kid, or the parents. The kid had no clue what he was doing, he’s 5 years old. He probably can’t even read properly. The parents probably had no idea about in-app purchases even existing. It was an accident, and I’m glas they got their money back.

xantheus13

uneducated parents is the problem, the kid could have probably surfed porn too if he knew what it was…

pp.LVgus

You know, it’s actually very common for people in their mid thirties of not being aware of this… (no, I’m not in my thirties) so it is unfair to say they are uneducated about a specific insignificant product. There is too much to learn. In game robbery is new trend taking advantage of people’s carelessness and punishing them financially using legalities to their advantage. Point in fact is that apple created a roof of $30 if it was a child who did the money spending…. people will not stand for that. It’s unethical…anyone who says otherwise is a hypocrite one way or another… like if you ever gotten out of a traffic ticket… or did something wrong that someone else forgave you… here it is not even doing something wrong. It is literally using something virtual… a cluster of code and animation, being sold over and over and over again…. it’s not even comparable to renting something… because there you can’t sell the time (or rent item/room) to two separate parties simultaneously…
Yeah… sure, the parents could have been more careful i suppose… i’m sure you are always careful about everything and never slip up.

Whooves

So it’s the kid’s fault that his parents are too lazy to disable the in-app purchases? What bullshit.

supersqueak .

They should of had to pay up. If the kid had walked out of a store with that much in merchandise the parents couldn’t just play stupid and say sorry. Adults can try and abuse this by saying that a kid racked up the charges. They should take responsibility for not supervising their kid correctly. I mean goodness he is still playing with the damn thing they haven’t learned a damn thing. This kid can barely speak properly he shouldn’t be staring at an I-pad all day.

JasonLx

It’s a little different scenario, between walking out of a store with physical merchandise, as opposed to being allow to push a “fire” button in a game a few extra times. Didn’t cost the dev’s a cent to do that. I’ve worked for phone companies doing customer service, I’ve seen the ludicrous charge for fake “services” that 3rd parties who are completely automated and don’t even bother to pay support staff, use to bankrupt families.

Pix Looter

So where’s the douche programmer who made it at such a high price? Let’s be real, people. Yes, the parents should have taken 10 seconds to look at it, but just because you can, doesn’t mean you should. Some basement dweller just screwed this family out of money and everyone’s okay with it? Idiots. No compassion for human mistakes.

Surreal Droplet

If that was my child his ass would be nice and sore. But, I wouldn’t let a 5-year old play with an expensive product.

Children can be very persuasive with heir parents, and nontech-savy parents might not realize whats available in those games.

Evilweirdo

^ This guy. Whether it was deception or an honest mistake on the kid’s part, it’s hardly the parents fault. However, I do agree that checking would have been wise.

Booby Bitch

Another “Games are evil” comment, huh? I’ve lost faith in jewmanity

Mark Johnson

I am a gamer, you tripe inbred It must have been hard to get through school considering your reading comprehension is absolutely abhorred. If you had paid attention better through… all of school you would know that I am saying that parents who are not familiar with “freemium” games would not know that those games have an option to play-and-pay

Booby Bitch

But you say it like kids are the bane of humanity

Mark Johnson

You should just stfu because you are incapable of understanding the words before your very eyes. I implied no such thing and it is evident that anything I have said so far was beyond your reading level. Im certain you can find some Clifford books in your public library, just have your parents pick them up for you.

Booby Bitch

You’re such a jackass

Mark Johnson

No, you are an idiot and an annoying little fuck who can’t understand the basic reading comprehension level of a 3rd grader. Im not a jackass, I just don’t like retarded little shits like you who assert their stupidity on me. I politely request you get a Sesame Street video, watch it thoroughly, then kill yourself for being so fucking stupid.

disqus_7N2pMQSHWH

Sorry but 5 months later and you still are the one in the wrong here. The game dev should be held at fault from the company, Itunes, but this is the parents’ collective fault. Fact is, non-tech savvy parents shouldn’t be giving their children the ability to access their funds, especially 5 year olds. Also, try supporting your argument as opposed to attacking someone with curse words, it sounds a tad more intelligent. Seriously, this crap needs to be a wake up call; game devs should keep on keepin’ on, meanwhile parents need to start f*cking parenting because it’s a privilege not a right.

Skoojoo

I attacked him because he made no points against my claims, but instead made extremely ignorant, generalized assertions without actually READING what I said in the first place. Much like you are doing too. I never said ANYONE was to blame. I was just acknowledging that parents are often persuaded by their children and if they are unfamiliar with freemium game structure and that credit card accounts are tied to cell phone user accounts.. Which is ENTIRELY true. It seems silly that I have to spell this out, but it seems you are as exceptionally stupid as the first guy, so I feel relatively safe about how “intelligent” I sound when addressing the lower end of the IQ pool such as yourself.

disqus_7N2pMQSHWH

You’re using parents’ naivete as a scapegoat here, the parents need to be aware of what their kids are having access too. I get what you’re saying, kids can be very sneaky when it comes to technology but these people are clearly stupid as hell considering during the video explaining what happened the kid was playing the damn game. Also I majored in English; so rest assured I read all of what you said, don’t worry about my IQ, worry about not having to result to petty name calling as opposed to proving your point. Parents are stupid and neglectful, and this is what happens. There are parental controls on stuff for a reason, regardless of how persuasive this kid is, this is the fault of the parents. You are not wrong about the naivete part of this, so I’m not disputing that, but calling someone inbred for misinterpreting what you were saying is just a tad over the top tough guy.

Wezleigh

So, you majored in English? Your exceptional use of run-on sentences, and general disregard for grammar certainly suggest otherwise.

disqus_7N2pMQSHWH

I used semicolons in a completely proper context, therefore the sentences were not run-on at all genius. Way to stick to the subject matter, by the way! Fact is, parent’s need to take the responsibility of parenting seriously, and take an interest in their child’s activities once in a while. I used the wrong form of the word “too,” it was supposed to be “to.” So yeah, you’re welcome, co*kbag.

Wezleigh

What’s that you said about petty name-calling?
Isn’t that a bit hypocritical?
To make a point: apple shouldn’t allow in-app purchases without a password if one has recently entered said password for the download of a game. If that were so, this article wouldn’t even exist.

disqus_7N2pMQSHWH

Now, please just get something to eat and go back under your bridge.

Booby Bitch

You shouldn’t be attacking anyone you immature little trollbait nigger.

Booby Bitch

Fuck you.

Skoojoo

Good one. 6 months later and you are still bringing down the IQ of every person who has the misfortune of being on the same planet as you.

BDX777

Wow Skoojoo, real mature.

Skoojoo

I’m really not interested in being accused of immaturity when the primary cause of my irritation (named “Booty Bitch”) on this page has used the words “jewmanity,” “jackass,” “trollbait,” “nigger,” “Fuck you,” and accused me of implying that I believed “kids are the bane of humanity.” Let these words sink in.

I am far from the demon here. I was sympathizing with the parents and acknowledged that they may very well not have been aware to the nature of freemium games and for that I get called all of those names, so I have responded thusly. Instead of providing normal discussion, I am verbally assaulted by an imbecile with a vocabulary of a 12 year-old you might find playing Call of Duty. (if you need me to verify that claim please read quoted words I just listed) So don’t speak to me of maturity when obviously you are incapable of recognizing the difference.

BDX777

Well clearly you are age-biased, you have the stigma that youths play CoD when that simply isn’t true.
Also if you google “kid rage” you’ll find a bunch of videos where adults are bullying kids online.
I’m pretty sure these manchildren and those damn ignorant judgemental Christians are the bigger issue right now.

Skoojoo

That is both extremely presumptuous and wrong. I’m 23, I grew up on COD and switched to BF because of those types of children and adults. That and they have nothing to do with Christians or anyone else who seem to have slighted you in regards to this topic.

BDX777

Oh you switched entire franchises because of a few kids? Atleast you’re not one of those kinds of people who claim to be all tolerant and just bitch about it all the time.

Skoojoo

I also switched franchises because I got tired of paying $60 for the same fucking game every year. Yes, I never claimed to be tolerant, least of all toward stupid people. You are not nearly as clever or intelligent as you think you are and my patience is wearing thin dealing with your futile, idiotic attempts to summarize my attitudes and mentality.

I chose to sympathize with the parents because I have dealt with parents and their children for many years now. Understanding the dynamic between the two is critical for me to make decent money and lends a certain perspective in these kinds of situations.

BDX777

Battlefield is the same game every release with sometimes thematic differences though..

Skoojoo

Bad Company and BC2 are not the same as BF3 or 4.

BDX777

N… no they’re still modern military shooters.

Skoojoo

Wow you have discovered genres. Congratulations. Naturally you must think all scifi movies are the same, or fantasy, or action.

BDX777

You’re a condescending ass and you need to fuck off.

Skoojoo

Stop whining. You got yourself involved in this, not me. Half of your comments were backhanded quips attempting to assess my mind-set. So you can take your pathetic, hypocritical ass and “fuck off.”

BDX777

Stop whining. You dragged me into this. Half of your comments were cheap rhetoric attempting to silence others. So you can take your pathetic, hypocritical ass and go fuck yourself with a spatula you trollbait piece of horse shit.

Skoojoo

I dragged you? You commented at me first. Who knew you were so weak that internet comments that had nothing to do with you forced you into responding. You should consider actually making valid point rather than making unfounded insults. Saying words like “cheap rhetoric” and accusing me of silencing others, when THEY are at fault in the first place and attacked me unprovoked, shows how you are more invested in insulting me than actually saying something relevant. Granted, every comment you have made so far has been extremely irrelevant, so I can’t begrudge you now for your consistent short-comings thus far.

BDX777

Stop talking please, you are only beating the dead horse, it is literally coated in spunk so stop beating off that dead horse for fuck sake.

Skoojoo

You are super fucking gross.

BDX777

Wanna play with my wongdong shlongbong?

Ace Marlow

I can’t believe all the stupid fucking comments about how there should be no way to get out of it. Micro transactions should be fucking illegal to begin with. But to top it off I am sick and tired of it being “the parents fault” if I am 16 and I look at porn, my parents get charged.. why?

Shit happens, and there is no way that that many charges should be allowed to go through to begin with, that should have raised flags for fraud all over!!! Apple should have been shutting that shit down ahead of time. Especially now that they stand to loose. It should be “hey you just spent 50$ type your password in to spend 50$ more”. Why is this so hard to understand?

Aaron

We’ll apple sucks that’s a BIG sign right there get android dum people. Who wants to spend money for that crap in the first place apple should go bankrupted far as I’m concerned its rediculous how much they charge people and Verizon is just as dam bad get rid of that garbadge suh suh stupid

ZeroHikari

*dumb *bankrupt * ridiculous *damn *garbage

Yea, I see your point… I think?

Gr8_Balls_o_KFM_Fire

I’m guessing English isn’t your first language

Zack

When I was his age, i played with Legos.

grape blitzhoof

I didn’t even have logos when i was 5, i had a trampoline

supamawiol0l

I hope he got spanked

JeremyEr10

Its not the company’s fault

1. Parents left their credit card info to a 5 year old child
2. Parents not even sure what their kids are playing
3. Parent dont even read the damn news

spat55

These people annoy the hell out of me. Just make a account for the kid to play on, so he can’t use your CC details, or make sure the password isn’t damn well stored.

zen

Kid, you did a great job.
Just look to Alfa Edison, He have burned his house, sounds so crazy, but he really famous till this time.
Hope you will do many things cooler than ever been.

HahGay

Stupid kid.

Hi

Whenever you make an in app purchase it asks you “Do you want to buy this?”, and if you haven’t signed in ever, or in awhile it will make you sign in. Any purchases you make soon after won’t require you to sign in again, but you will have to later on. I assume there’s a token with a lifetime of a few hours or so.

I can see where people have grief with the developers because some games incorporate in app purchases of gems or berries or whatever into the game art, and it looks cartoonish, so I can see why a kid may not know that it costs actual money to buy them. That being said, the subsequent pop up does literally prompt you for confirmation to buy it for whatever amount it is.

I know that parents may not be as tech savvy as they should be, and some will argue “well no one told me this is how it works, or that i could disable those purchases”, but that’s a larger problem of people not wanting to help themselves and take responsibility, and would rather leave it up to the manufacturer to hold their hand.

Booby Bitch

If it says it’s free then it’s free!

Noahjsc

The kid is not stupid trust me 5 yr olds are smart. they know about the extra money and that. but they put on the little cute act and act like they did not know anything. its like stealing a cookie out of the cookie jar they know its wrong but its to tempting and then if there cuaght but mom i was super hungry next thing you know the parents are saying kids will be kids.

braiden collier

This article gave me a wonderful idea for a scam.
Step 1: Have kid
Step 2: download free-to-play game and make hundreds of pay-to-win microtransactions.
Step 3: When bill arrives claim kid was playing
Step 4: Get reimbursed for all the pay to win enjoyment.

James

Reminds me of me…

James

except about the lying and pretty tolerant parent part

WalterIsAWizard

micro transactions ftw

McLovin

It doesn’t matter who is at fault.. I have never had to pay for an unauthorized charge on my account. If your kid buys something you dont authorize it, you dont have to pay for it; at least that is how it is in the US

ad

1:39 (pika!’w’ )

cusman

Remember kids, if it says its free that just means that the next day it will “costed the money.”

B S

everyone with an ipad and a 5 year old who has ever done shit like this look at the end of your arm. see the 5 digit implement there? please apply it to your little gargoyle’s arse-end in brisk a swinging motion whilst saying these words “you will not be a little moron again.” and feel free to air any other grievances you might have with the little snot faucet while you’re at it. repeat applications as necessary till you no longer have a dumb fucking kid. then slap yourself a few good ones for leaving your credit card info on something you hand to a FIVE YEAR OLD. you KNOW they’re little dumbfucks, try not to be a BIG one.